The day before Ramadan= major pigging out

So, being it was the day before the start of ramadan, that only means one thing. Eat anything and everything in sight.I had some free time available and decided to go to some places that I know would have great food. I started off going to Artisanal Fromagerie and Bistro.

Low and behold. Mac n cheese! It was voted as the best mac and cheese in nyc by Serious Eats so being in a cheese mood, I decided to see if it was true. Apparently it has parmesan cheese and bechamel sauce, so it's not the classic cheddar/ american combo. The top was sprinkled with crunchy breadcrumbs which I liked agains the really soft creamyness of the pasta. It was a different kind of macaroni and cheese. Not traditional but still pretty good. best in the city? I don't think so. But still a good dish. Still in the cheesy mood I went and got cheese fries from a papaya dog beause I wanted some of that cheese sauce that is just so darn good. And man, those cheese fries were everything I wanted them to be. I love cheese. I also went to foodparc and happened to see the kelvin slush truck. Got myself a small arnold palmer with passionfruit. As always, super awesome. I could actually taste the passionfruit. It was a nice touch without being too sweet.

Next, I was off to the East Village for three food places I had already visited but wanted new dishes from. Up first, the lovelet ice cream sandwich from Melt Bakery. Luckily, I didn't have to go all the way to Melt Bakery since the Big Gay ice Cream Shop sold it. Two red velvet cookies with cream cheese ice cream. Sounds good huh? It was. Surprisingly the cookies weren't rock solid. They were pretty soft but still able to hold up to the firm ice cream, which stayed firm for quite a bit. it wasn't a messy sandwich at all, and tasted true to the flavors. I liked it.

A few blocks over, I revisited Chickalicious Dessert Club. I had the eclair ice cream sandwich which was pretty good, but after the adult chocolate pudding, I decided it as time for possible redemption. Sadly, I was disappointed. Originally, I went in for the banana pot de creme that was a new dessert menu item but since they didn't have it and I love tiramisu, I decided to go with the tres leche tiramisu. How could you go wrong? Well, I gotta say, despite all the press this place gets, I'm never impressed by it. This tiramisu was so eh. It was a predominantly milky flavor with aftertones of coffee flavor. I liked the nuts on top and there was something in the cake that was like the rice balls in a crunch bar, but after the first bite, I wasn't really feeling it. Sorry Chickalicious but I don't know if I'll be back here again. The Dessert Bar (see previous review) however, does warrant revisiting.

Last stop, the coconut cruise from puddin'. It's a graham cracker crust at the bottom, coconut pudding, pineapple chunks, and then a final layer of coconut pudding. I first went to puddin and had the caramel macchiato which I loved so I decided to try this tropical parfait. I gotta say I was not wowed by it as I was by the caramel macchiato. The pineapples were sweet and I love graham cracker crumbs but the coconut pudding wasn't that great. It wasn't that sweet and didn't really have the strong coconut flavor that I would've wanted. All in all, I was disappointed the last tastes I had weren't the best but I still had some overall pretty good food that day. Ramadan, I'm ready.

Otto, People Pops and L'Arte Del Gelato= frozen treat extravaganza!

Soooo, after being let out early from work unexpectedly and my sister also being free, it was pretty obvious there needed to be a food trip! I was in the mood for gelato, who isn't in this weather? But I was also really hungry too so since otto was in the same neighborhood as her hair salon (she got her hair cut first) we decided to go there for an "afternoon nosh" as the waitress called it. Here's what we got.

We got the Quattro Fromaggi pizza which had tomato, mozzarella, taleggio, cacio, and ricotta. We found out that cacio is a type of sheep's milk cheese. As you can see, the different cheeses were spread differently. It wasn't like all four cheeses on every slice, more like a few dispersed. I'm not sure if I like that or not. Regardless, I thought the pizza was good. I normally don't like ricotta cheese so thatone was ok, but the orange looking ones and the other cheesy ones were pretty good. I like ooey gooey cheese, not like crumbly things. I like cheese so I liked this pizza. 

Up next, dessert! We ordered the banana tartufo (left) and the blueberry almond crisp (right). The banana tartufo had banana gelato, chocolate brownie, caramelized white chocolate and spiced peanuts.Sound ridic? It was. Lemme start off by saying that gelato was on point! Theyre known for their amazing gelato and I can see why. That banana gelato tasted like I was eating a really good freakin banana or banana cake. So good. And then there was a chocolate brownie on the bottom that was really soft and went perfectly with the banana flavor. The caramelized white chocolate was especially cool because it cracked like the top of a creme brulee and offered a nice sweetness. I also liked the spiced peanuts because they gave that perfect salty crunch. A really good dessert. The blueberry almond crisp game with vanilla gelato and whipped cream (not pictured). This one was really good too. I haven't had many crisps before so this was a nice new experience. Once you get through the crumble there's a lot of soft, gooey blueberries that just look and taste awesome. The blueberries were sweet but not too sweet and with the crunchy crumble was just awesome. The vanilla gelato and whipped cream went really well with it. I couldn't decide which dessert was beter, they were both that good. 

 People pops! So the ones they had on hand were yellow peach with mint, strawberry balsamic, and strawberry something else that sounded plain. I went with the strawberry balsamic cuz I'm always hearing this whole balsamic thing and have no clue what it tastes like except the balsamic vinagrette salad dressing. Thought itd be a freaky combo and boy it was. At first you get a strong strawberry flavor and then at the end youre kinda like whoa? what the hell is that? but not in a bad way. just like in a curious way because its a little tart, kinda like the vinagrette. I found that the vinagrette dressing is pretty on point in regards to what balsamic tastes like.Overall, I liked this weird combo.

Mona had never been to chelsea market before so upon hearing this we made a trek over especially since people pops and l'arte del gelato were both there. Double win!So on to L'Arte Del Gelato.

MmmmmmMmmmmmmm. Gelato. First off they had so many flavors! I tried the marscarpone and the biscotti one but stopped after that cuz they seemed kinda annoyed. I ended up getting the mango sorbet and the mixed berry sorbet as I was in a fruity mood. They were both expected flavors. The mixed berry was very refreshing and just fruity. I liked the mango slightly better just because when I tasted it I was like holy hell I am tasting a mango right now. They even managed to get the sorbet to be a bit stringy like what you find in a real mango! Love. But then again, I friggin love mango. A perfect palate cleanser for the rest of the day. So get over to these places because the weather ain't getting any cooler!

Plaza Food Hall by Todd English: Trying lots of food :)

So, I had a day off and was in the city and decided to try something new for an early dinner. After realizing, I have tried nearly every place I want to try so far, the only place that just opened that I hadnt tried was the Plaza Food Hall recently opened by Todd English.  There appears to be a number of food vendors that I love gathered together in this fancy little hall. Plus, there wasn't a lot of people which was a definite perk. Among the many vendors include Luke's Lobster, No.7 Sub, Billy's Bakery, Lady M Confections, Francois Payard Bakery just to mention a few. Let's explore what I had.

So, I couldn't really get a picture of it but try to imagine. I got the cheesesteak from No.7 sub. It comes with miso whiz, funyuns, and pickled jalapenos. I opted out of the pickled jalapenos as I am not a big fan. From what the woman said, miso is soybean based or something but basically they make their whiz out of real cheese instead of that fake stuff. I didn't care really, it just tasted like cheese to me. Personally, I wasn't too fond of it, but then again, I don't really like the wiz flavor so I am most likely biased. However, the beef was really good and there was a hefty amount of wiz on there which I liked. Lots of places skimp out on the cheese, not this place. The funyuns were a fun, witty addition to this sandwich providing a nice crunch to the ooey gooey mess. Right on No.7 sub.

Next up, the every fabulous Francois Payard Bakery. Can't go wrong getting anything in this place. Seriously, the man is a master (see previous post regarding stellar ice cream sandwiches). I opted for the Verrine Tout Chocolat - Rich Layers of Dark Chocolate Sabayon, Dark Chocolate leaves with Fleur de Sel, Chocolate Macaron, Chocolate Mousse and Caramel Chips. Tell me you did not just wipe the saliva that was dripping from your mouth. I will assure you, it tastes just as good as it sounds. How can it not with all of those great flavors. Look at that thing! So cute! I loved it because it was just layered with more and more surprises. There was a cute little chocolate macaron on top that was great. Then the dark chocolate sabayon. I put my spoon all the way to the bottom in an attempt to get every component. And they are all in there. I loved the layers of flavors. there was chocolate then caramel then a little fleur de sel. The textures were also great being that there was crunchy, soft, creamy, and smooth. There were also little bits of some sort of chocolate cake or brownie which was the best part hidden at the bottom. GET.

Hola! Bread puddin!!! I took a piece of bread pudding from pain d'avignon home. The pic is one that has blueberries and blackberries but they rotate flavors daily so mine was a peach bread pudding. I love bread pudding and heard good things so you're comin home with me! When I got home, I saw they packed a little custard thing that I poured on top. The texture was very dense, I must say. It was really really soft and moist though, something I love in bread pudding. It was studded with peach pieces that gave a little tart/sweet feel too. The bread pudding soaked up the custard which was very creamy and smooth. I also thought I tasted some chocolate chips. Not my fav thing from the plaza, I gave the rest to my sister.

Last, but definitely not least, I had heard that this froyo place had over 50 toppings so I knew I had to stop by. They had a good number of flavors, not as much as 16 handles but there were some that stood out to me as something I would want to try. I tried the mango ( I <3 mango) and coconut and those were pretty darn good so I got those. With toppings it was 79cents/oz. which is pretty outrageous but what do you expect from the friggin plaza food hall? I didn't get many of the toppings that they had mainly because they were candies and things that go with chocolate and I was going in a fruity direction. So I had my mango coconut concoction with raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, pineapple, strawberries, pomegranate seeds, mango boba (soooo good) and some other stuff I don't remember but I loved the selection of fruit. Not a lot of places have soooo much available. The coconut was verrryy creamy and coconut-y while the mango was sweet and being a sorbet, had a strong mango flavor. I thought the two went together really well, especially with the food toppings. So all in all, check out this gathering of delicious foods!

Bobby's Burger Palace + Capogiro gelato = Awesome additions to an already awesome day!

So, on a recent trip to Philly to see a great little show, me and some cool peeps that were with me went to get some food that was less than 5 minutes away from the venue. Who knew that such delicious food would be so close by? Well, the original plan was to visit Capogiro gelato as I had just read that they were rated one of the top 10 ice cream parlors in the US by the US World News Report. So as we were on our way there, low and behold, Bobby's Burger Palace! I jumped up and down like a little school girl shouting Bobby's Burger Palace! Bobby's Burger Palace! Look! Bobby's Burger Palace! Now, I was really excited because I never thought that I would be able to go to this place since it had a lot of western locations and I certainly was not gonna make that trip. It was like so lucky we saw the place so obviously we went in.

 

According to Best Thing I ever Ate, Claire Robinson got the Buffalo Burger "crunchified" ie with potato chips. I wasn't a fan of buffalo so i got the crunch burger that was a burger with american cheese and potato chips. It was definitely different, that's for sure. Chips on a burger? I mean, come on, I KNOW you haven't had that one before. I liked that the chips held up their crunchy texture despite being crushed by the bun. The burger was medium well and cooked nicely and the soft bun with crunchy chips just made it great. Plus they had great sauces like burger sauce (not so great), ketchup, chipotle ketchup, bbq, etc so you had a lot of options. I stuck with regular ketchup, keeping it simple. 

On to the next! Literally a few stores away, capogiro gelato! We ended up looking like freaks trying just about every flavor they had hahaha oh well. I ended up getting the pineapple gelato and something called amish milk gelato. They looked about the same where I couldn't really tell which one I was eating until it was in my mouth. The pineapple one had a prominent pineapple flavor that I liked which wasn't too sweet and thats why I went with it. Then after I tired the amish milk gelato it was like this weird creamy gelato that really just, well, tasted like milk! I thought itd be a nice creamy cut through the sweet pineapple. Mona got the chocolate coffee one which sorta just tasted like chocolate and kiwi which was reallly good, I almost got that one too. It seems theyre fruity flavors are the best. Anyhow, stop on by if you're in Philly and it'll definitely brighten up your day!